In July 2023, our client tasked us with creating a mobile app for sending emergency and natural disaster alerts within their area. This app allows both the municipality and police to directly inform citizens about emergencies, including active shooters, bomb threats, floods, wildfires, and more.

The original application offered to clients was essentially a web-based form that allowed citizens to register their phone numbers to receive text message alerts. However, this system had limitations, it did not provide users with options to personalize the types of alerts they wished to receive, or could they visually track the locations of these alerts.

I conducted a detailed UX analysis of apps directly and indirectly related to our project, identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, I interviewed both stakeholders and current web app users to understand how they use their existing alerts app. This research allowed us to identify critical features for our minimal viable product.

After conducting a competitive analysis, I proposed that we should:
• Streamline the onboarding process to be quick and straightforward.
• Allow users to personalize their alert preferences.
• Incorporate maps and timestamps for users to easily see where and when alerts occur.
• Offer articles and resources to assist users in preparing for emergencies.

By leveraging the available requirements, research, data, and insights, I explored different layout and user flow options. After discussing these variations with my product manager, development team, and key stakeholders to collect feedback, we made several adjustments. Eventually, we refined a design ready for user testing.

The app enables citizens to:
• View and receive notifications about emergencies in their municipality
• Learn emergency preparedness through informative articles
• Choose notification preferences (email, text, push notification)
• Customize the geographical radius for receiving alerts
• Track alerts for multiple locations
• Select the severity level of alerts they wish to receive, with high and critical alerts always being sent

Due to budget and time constraints, I conducted in-house user tests with colleagues uninvolved in the project, guiding them through the prototype and asking questions throughout the sessions. Through testing, I identified interaction deficiencies and opportunities to enhance the app's clarity.

I worked with the client and staff to develop an easy-to-use back office web application for efficient alert management, keeping citizens informed. This will be detailed in a separate case study.